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Anthony Palma was convicted and sentenced in 2017 for the kidnapping and murder of Kirsten Hatfield. The 8-year-old was snatched in 1997 from her Midwest City home and has never been seen since.

In 2015, authorities arrested Palma, who lived a few houses down from Kirsten’s family, after DNA evidence linked him to the crime.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections confirmed Palma was killed on Friday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.

On Tuesday, officials released a few more details regarding Palma’s death.

Investigators said during a unit check on Friday night, they discovered Palma was covered in a blanket and was “lying face down on the floor.” The incident report states that guards made Palma’s cellmate pull the blanket off him, and that’s when they noticed blood all over the floor and that Palma wasn’t breathing.

Authorities say Palma’s cellmate, Raymond Pillado, is the one responsible for his death.

Raymond Pillado

Pillado is currently in prison for convictions of shooting with intent to kill, three counts of first-degree murder, felon in possession of a firearm and using a vehicle while discharging a weapon.

He is serving several life sentences.

Authorities say that they were hoping to interview Palma later this year in hopes of finding Kirsten’s body.

“We’ve not had closure on this case and we may never have closure because we wanted to find her body and bring her home,” Midwest City Police Chief Brandon Clabes said.“Our hopes are, with any case like this, the suspect who’s convicted… in this case, it was Anthony Palma… that hopefully he would have some inkling of a conscience, maybe intervention by a higher power, maybe God and come out and tell us exactly what he did with her.”